Kesher Talk

Subliminal in NYC. I didn't go see Zionist Israeli rapper Subliminal last night, although I publicized his upcoming show. I'm not into rap in general and tickets were $40. But Yaron has a review.

. . . the crowd was into it every step of the way, chanting "Am Yisrael Chai" ("the nation of Israel lives") between songs, waving some Israeli flags, and a good many people (especially the girls) seemed to know all the song lyrics.

The crowd itself, maybe 1,000 people, seemed to be about 60% Israelis, 40% American Jews, although probably a lot were like me, somewhere in between. I'd guess the median age was around 18, what with all the 10-15-year-olds (!) running around. Hey, I guess Subliminal is "for the children". It's nice being at an all-ages show, it definitely feels like more of a community gathering.

Halfway through they brought out a true superstar, Israeli-American violinist Miri Ben-Ari, AKA "the hip-hop violinist". She's kind of everywhere in (American) hip-hop these days, having played with Kanye West, Jay-Z, and many others (she's probably best known for the instrumental hook on Fat Joe's "Lean Back"). That was really quite unexpected that she showed up. She played a song with the group, then played a little virtuoso piece with just a backing track. Awesome, and the crowd showed their support.

Though I didn't think it could get better, during the four-song encore out came Remedy, a Jewish rapper who's a sometimes-member of Wu-Tang Clan, plus Killah Priest (!), another side Wu-Tang member. It really turned into sort of an all-star show.

posted by Judith @ 3/14/2005 06:09:00 PM